Without You Chapter 3 Red Roses, a glee fanfic

Without You

A Rachel/Finn Story

By Brown Eyes Parker

Shout Outs:

Thanks to ItsaGleeThing, & noro for the review on this chapter. And thank you to everybody who put me on their author alert/story alert. It's all greatly appreciated, and at least I know that there are people out there, who are enjoying my story, and I'm not writing it in vain.

Author's Note:

No trouble between Finn/Rachel in this story. Just a lot of fluffy goodness, but maybe in future chapters. As much as I would love it to be, there can't always be fluff. I know this from my own love life, which is pretty much non-existent, because I think my love for a certain somebody is unrequited.

The song I used in this chapter is by Faith Hill, and it's called "Lost". It's from her greatest hits album.

Chapter 3 Red Roses

Graduation was finally upon them, and Finn couldn't help but feel the dread creeping up on him as he finished putting his tie on. It had been a year since he and Rachel had gotten back together, and had decided to see where a year would take them.

Now, he was more certain than ever that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He didn't care how many miles or how much star power and Tony's separated them. He wanted to be the one that Rachel came back to every single holiday, and then every single night after that. He wanted Rachel to be the mother of his children, and hold his hand when the time came for him to die.

Now it was just a matter of telling her how he felt, and seeing if she felt the same way.

"Could Rachel drive to the party with me?" Finn asked her Leroy and Hiram Berry after the graduation ceremony was over and their crowd of friends and family were thinning out; headed to the Hummel/Hudson residents for the party they were throwing for the Glee club.

They nodded.

"Of course, we'll see you there," Leroy answered.

And then, he was alone with Rachel. He took her hand and led her to his truck, opening the door for her, waiting for her to slide in before closing it. He put on ancient Vanessa Carlton CD in that they both enjoyed, and let the car idle for a minute, trying to think about how to get what he wanted to say out.

"We're going to be late for the party Finn," she said quietly.

"It's been a year since we got back together," he replied.

"I know."

"We need to talk about it now. No more putting it off."

Rachel sighed. "I don't want to. . . it'll just end with the both of us angry, and maybe breaking up. I don't want that."

"I don't want that either!" Finn assured her. "I want to make our relationship to work, even if it is long-distance. We'll talk every night, Facebook each other every day. . . I'll come to you on the weekends, watch you in all your shows. . . even if they're off-Broadway—"

"Have you ever thought about applying for a football scholarship at NYU?" Rachel asked, cutting him off.

"Noooo. . ." Finn answered slowly. "I've talked to recruiters, but none of them have seemed terribly interested. They mention that I'd be good for their team, but then I never hear from them."

"One of my dad's cousins is an assistant coach at NYU. I could see if he could pull some strings and get you a football scholarship. He owes my dad a favor anyways. And then we wouldn't be apart. . ."

Finn shook his head. "It's too late now. I was never really on top of getting into a prestigious college on a football scholarship, so I missed my chance. Besides, that's not the point. The point is, I want to spend forever with you. I want you to come back to me during your school holidays, and then when you're established in Wicked or Funny Girl, I'm going to propose to you. . . so I'm the person waiting in the wings for you with a dozen red roses. I want you to be the one to have my children, and then. . . when the time comes. . . be there with me when I die. I love you Rachel, and I can't see my life without you."

Rachel barely managed to get an I love you too out. She was shocked by Finn's declaration. True, she had pictured the two of them married and living in a fabulous apartment not far from Broadway. But she had never imagined that Finn wanted it to, and she had never really thought to mention it to him. He bristled whenever somebody planned his life out for him.

"Good, I'm glad we got that settled then," Finn said, putting his car into drive. "Now we better hurry up before everybody – especially Puck – gets the wrong idea about what we're really doing."

The drive to the Hummel/Hudson home was filled with cheerful discussions about what they would do and what sites they would see when Finn came for his weekends in New York. They made jokes about what their wedding would be like, and who would stand up with them. They talked about what their children would look like, and whose personalities they would have. . . and what they would name them.

Finn couldn't imagine anything more perfect, he couldn't imagine anything going wrong after their conversation. Love would conquer all, he knew this for certain.

"They want you to sing Rachel," Mercedes said, coming over to where Rachel and Finn sat with Puck. "I'm pretty sure that'll be easy for you, you always have something prepared."

"Actually I do," Rachel replied with a smile, she stood and smiled, following Mercedes to the place Will had set up for the Glee to perform one final together.

Mercedes cleared her throat. "Okay everybody, Miss Rachel Berry has agreed to open our farewell performance with a solo. So, please give it up for her."

Rachel smiled and sat down at the piano. "Hello everybody, thank you for coming to help us celebrate our accomplishments as individuals, a Glee club, and students at McKinley high. We appreciate your support and your love these past three years.

"Now, I have a very special song prepared today for somebody very special. . . somebody who's supported me, and loved me unconditionally. Finn, thank you."

She started to play the first few chords of Lost by Faith Hill and then taking a deep breath she sang,

"Is it obvious to you when you walk into a room, your face is all I see? And my heart races so fast, I never knew a rush to feel like that, every time you're touching me. I never did believe in anything I couldn't hold between my fingers, but the way you make me feel . . . it's just so real the way it lingers.

"No, this feeling doesn't end. It's with me everywhere I am, hope it never goes away. It's like defying gravity, losing all control and being free. And I always want to stay. I never thought that I'd go long enough to fall for someone deeply. You have the power to erase my fears and find me so completely.

"I get lost inside your stare, lost when you're not there, and everything I have doesn't mean a thing if it's without you. If it's a dream, don't wake me up. I'll scream if this isn't love. If being lost means never knowing how it feels without you, I want to stay lost. Don't tell me where we're going, I don't want to know. I like the mystery. I can't believe we've come this far, so far away from where we started off. . . you found me when I wasn't looking. You found me.

"And now I'm lost inside your stare, lost when you're not there. . . and everything I have doesn't mean a thing if it's without you, without you. If it's a dream, don't wake me up, I'll scream if this isn't love. If being lost means, never knowing how it feels without you, if being lost means that I'm never gonna be without you, I wanna stay lost forever. . . I wanna stay lost forever, with you."

Finn was by her side in an instant, he pulled her up from the piano bench, and tried to convey through his kiss that the song emitted his feelings just as much as her's.

TBC. . .

Author's Note II:

I couldn't think of a better way to end this chapter, but with a song about a woman who is lost without the person she loves next to her. I thought it was fitting for Finn and Rachel's situation, and later chapters.

Anyways, I'm still open to suggestions, because like I said before. . . I'm just sort of winging it here. So, SUGGEST! And now, I'm off to post this chapter before I decide to change the song for the third time. (the first two were Fireflies and Breathe, both by Faith Hill.)

Love,

Holly, July 11, 2011

P.S

To somebody special, No, this feeling doesn't end. It's with me everywhere I am,